Agroforestry is a land use management system that integrates trees or shrubs with crops and/or livestock in a mutually beneficial way into forests that grow food. Agroforestry can take many forms including Agroecology, Alley Cropping, Silvopasture, and Windbreaking all of which provide eco-systematic benefits that include nitrogen fixation, soil conservation, and biodiversity improvement.
Some Agroforestry systems use a multi-strata agroforestry strategy or engage a forest garden approach. Tree Plantation offers a guide to conservation agriculture, which employs techniques and strategies that harbor a balance between the need for a vibrant, healthy forest and the benefit for growing edible and medicinal plants within the same ecosystem.
Agroecology is a scientific discipline that seeks to study and design agricultural ecosystems that are diverse, resilient, and sustainable. It focuses on understanding the ecological processes that occur within agroecosystems and seeks to apply this knowledge to improve agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability. Scope of study includes Intercropping, Conservation Agriculture and Traditional Agriculture.
Intercropping involves planting different crops together in the same field, which can increase productivity, diversify income sources, and reduce the risk of crop failure. Conservation Agriculture is the practice of minimizing soil disturbance, maintaining soil cover, and diversifying crop rotations to improve soil health, increase productivity, and reduce the risk of crop failure. Traditional Agriculture incorporates indigenous and local knowledge systems into agricultural production, which can help to preserve cultural diversity, promote food sovereignty, and enhance sustainability. Traditional agriculture embraces the notion of forests that grow food.
Alley cropping is an agroforestry practice in which rows of trees or shrubs are grown in between rows of crops. The trees or shrubs can provide multiple benefits to the crops, such as reducing soil erosion, providing shade, and fixing nitrogen in the soil.
Here are some examples of alley cropping:
Here are some benefits of alley cropping:
Agroforestry (forests that grow food with trees) is a modern term of land use intercropping used for thousands of years by various cultures across the globe.
Agriculturalists believe that agroforestry could combat climate change. An edible forest floor landscape would add to the carbon sequestration of a forest and forest floor plants would “feed on” decaying wood, leaf and plant other matter preventing released carbon from escaping into the atmosphere. An agroforestry landscape also drops the ambient temperature outside the forest by several degrees diminishing the “heat island” effect of global warming.
With proper plant selection, with proper selection and plant management, forests that grow food can match the production of an open field acre. A million agroforestry acres could produce 10 million pounds of food and feed hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.
A forest floor covered with edible plant cover saves a tremendous amount of water; as much as 50% of the water used to grow trees in a rowed tree plantation or crops in an open field farm, which makes the adoption of agroforestry a must for water challenged areas of the world.
Plantation forests on their own provide for at least a level of biodiversity, even in mono-cultured tree stands. Many species of birds will thrive in the tree canopy, and on the forest floor, a natural “green manure” is created each year from tree leaves that fall to the ground, which creates an environment for fungi and small creatures that feed on the decaying material. Over-time, non-woody plants germinate from this nutrient rich layer of material to create an under storied ecosystem beneath the tree canopy. Small animals will eventually inhabit the new ecosystem, larger animals like deer and elk soon follow and 10 years after transplant, a diversified ecosystem will thrive throughout the plantation due to agroforestry intercropping techniques and practices.
Benefits of agroforestry to people, plants, animals, and the environment:
People: Agroforestry systems can provide a range of benefits to people, including increased food security, improved livelihoods, and improved environmental sustainability. Agroforestry can help to increase food production by creating a diverse agricultural landscape that can support a wider range of crops and livestock. This can help to improve food security and reduce dependence on a single crop. Agroforestry can also provide a range of non-timber forest products, such as fruits, nuts, and medicinal plants, which can provide a source of income for farmers.
Plants: Agroforestry systems can provide a range of benefits to plants, including improved soil health, increased genetic diversity, and improved water retention. Trees and shrubs in agroforestry systems can help to improve soil structure and nutrient cycling, which can improve soil health and fertility. Agroforestry can also promote genetic diversity in crops and reduce the risk of crop failure due to pests and diseases.
Animals: Agroforestry systems can provide habitat for a variety of wildlife, including insects, birds, and mammals. Trees and shrubs in agroforestry systems can provide nesting sites, food sources, and shelter for a variety of wildlife, which can help to increase biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. This can lead to the conservation of endangered species and the promotion of ecosystem health and resilience. In addition, agroforestry systems can provide a source of forage for livestock, which can improve animal health and productivity.
Environment: Agroforestry systems can provide a range of benefits to the environment, including carbon sequestration, improved soil and water quality, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Trees in agroforestry systems can sequester carbon from the atmosphere, helping to mitigate climate change. Agroforestry can also help to reduce erosion and nutrient loss, leading to improved water quality. In addition, agroforestry systems can help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. The use of biodegradable ground covers control plnat growth and improve edible plant yields.
In the industrialized west, forests that grow food are few and far between, however in some tropical areas of the world landowners have been growing trees and agricultural crops together for generations. In Latin America for example, coffee plants needed to be cultivated under the shade of trees but in the 1960’s new plant breeds were introduced to the region that could grow in full sun. It soon became apparent that without shade, the new coffee plants required expensive, frequent fertilizing and became susceptible to all kinds of pests. Productivity and profit were also lower. Today, most of these new sun coffee plantations have been abandoned and the land returned to its natural state. Agroforestry would have been the answer for these Latin American growers.
In the UK, tree farmers are experimenting with forests that grow food by planting more traditional agricultural crops with trees. Many types of vegetables can be incorporated throughout a tree grove, particularly when trees are young, and the plant canopy hasn’t entirely blocked out the sun. Most types of pole bean and pea plants will climb the trunk and branches of a young tree. Melons and squash of all types can be planted at the center point between each row of trees. Raspberries, blackberries and currants will thrive between Agroforestry tree rows even as the canopy develops and creates more shade. Many herbs grow well in the acidic soil of a forest floor including parsley, cilantro, basil, mint and rosemary.
We define agroforestry as an intentional combination of forest and farm as a form of intercropping various tree and vegetable plant species to diversify income, increase biodiversity and conserve water, which meets many of the Sustainable Development Goals listed below.
With more than 700 million struggling to fulfill their most basic needs such as access to clean water and food Tree Plantation LLC is keen to deploy the Company's agroforestry technology to those need it most and help reach the UN goal of no poverty by 2030.
A profound change of the global food and agriculture system is needed if we are to nourish the 821 million people who are hungry now and the additional 2 billion people expected to be undernourished by 2050. We believe agroforestry is crucial to increasing the capacity for agricultural productivity and sustainable food production.
Developing forests that grow food can play a critical role on the path to zero hunger by increasing food security, preserving natural resources, and promoting sustainable land use practices. By supporting the development of agroforestry and forests that grow food, we can help to ensure that communities have access to the resources they need to achieve food security and ultimately, a world without hunger.
Ensuring healthy lives and promoting the well-being of all ages is essential to sustainable development. Growing fresh produce with trees would provide good health and reduce premature deaths, particularly for children.
Obtaining a quality education is the foundation to creating sustainable development. In addition to improving quality of life, teaching people how to use agroforestry would equip locals with the tools to solve the world’s greatest problems, especially proper nutrition and hunger.
Forests that grow food would give women and girls equal access to food production, decent work, and representation in political and economic decision-making processes on a local level, fuel sustainable economies and benefit societies and humanity as a whole.
Clean, accessible water for all is an essential part of the world we all want to live in. Water scarcity, poor water quality and inadequate sanitation negatively impact food security, livelihood choices and educational opportunities for poor families around the world. More than 2 billion people are living with limited access to freshwater resources and by 2050, at least one in four people is likely to live in a country affected by chronic or recurring shortages of fresh water. Forests that grow food conserve and save a tremendous amount of water.
Roughly half the world’s population still lives on the equivalent of about US$2 a day and a job doesn’t guarantee the ability to escape from poverty in many places. This requires us to rethink and retool our economic and social policies aimed at eradicating poverty. The introduction of agroforestry would decrease unemployment rates significantly and provide meaningful work no matter the working person's age or gender.
Investments in infrastructure – transport, irrigation, energy and information and communication technology – are crucial to achieving sustainable development and empowering communities in many countries. Agroforestry requires little water to grow food and as a rule is not dependent on industrialized irrigation used by developed countries. Little water use by agroforestry would go a long way to halt the over pumping and rapid depletion of irreplaceable aquifers.
More than half the world’s population is predicted to live in cities by the middle of the century dependent on imported food. Growth in food production will depend largely on finding ways to increase the productivity of urban land spaces. Agroforestry can reduce the carbon footprint of our food, conserve water and help create sustainable city and community food systems in all kinds of urban spaces, big and small.
Responsible consumption and production is about promoting resource and energy efficiency, sustainable infrastructure, and providing access to basic services, green and decent jobs and a better quality of life for all. Since responsible consumption and production aims at “doing more and better with less,” agroforestry can reduce resource use, environmental degradation and pollution, while increasing quality of life. There also needs to be significant focus on lessening dependance on globalized supply chains, involving everyone from the initial producer to final consumer. Agroforestry can be deployed as a “point-of-use” intercropping system that grows food right where people live eliminating the need for “third-party” transportation of food grown from wherever.
Climate change is now affecting every country on every continent. It is disrupting national economies and affecting lives, costing people, communities and countries dearly today and is predicted to cost even more tomorrow. Weather patterns are changing, sea levels are rising, weather events are becoming more extreme and greenhouse gas emissions are now at their highest levels in history. Without action, the world’s average surface temperature is likely to surpass 3 degrees centigrade this century. The poorest and most vulnerable people are being affected the most. The need to rapidly develop and adopt climate adaptive food growing systems is essential if we are going to survive what is predicted to come. Deployment of forests that grow food on a global scale would be a step in the right direction.
Forests cover 30.7 per cent of the Earth’s surface and, in addition to providing food security and shelter; they are key to combating climate change, protecting biodiversity and the homes of the indigenous population. By adopting Agroforestry intercropping practices, we will also be able to strengthen natural resource management and increase land productivity.
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